Tutorial Tuesday: Blend Modes

February 3, 2009 | Filed Under Layouts, Tutorials | 5 Comments 

Hi everyone. Denise (neeceebee) here to bring you a tutorial on blend modes. Did you know that you can change the blend mode of practically everything on your layout—on papers, photos, and elements too.

This tutorial was written for PSE 6, because that’s what I use… but I know most programs have blending modes, so keep these ideas in mind as you work on your layouts.

First, let me just say that changing your blend mode is a really useful technique that can add a lot to your layouts. I change blend modes when I want to lighten a photo, create a new paper, or even on elements to give my layout the look and feel that I want.

I often blend when I have a photo that I really love and I want it to be the focus of my entire layout.

So, let’s start with paper.

Here is a basic paper. I like the look of the paper, but it isn’t quite the right color or texture yet. Now, I could just recolor the paper, but I am going to blend it with another paper…in order to achieve a paper that has more texture in addition to being a different color.

Remember, this is a really great technique when you have two pieces of paper that have texture and pattern that you think would look great together.

So, add your second paper on top of your first paper.

As you can see, I added a brown paper with a slightly different texture on top of my first paper. Make sure your top layer is active and go to the blend mode pull down menu. I choose to change my blend mode to screen.

When I blend, I often click through the different blend modes until I get the look I want.

Now that paper my looks good, I pull my photo onto my layout and resize it to fill my entire page. (You could keep yours small, but I like how this looks).

[Let me just add here, that paper color can make a BIG difference in blending a photo. If you choose a paper color similar to the majority of the background of your photo...that part of your photo will "melt away," leaving the emphasis on the main subject of your photo.]

Now that my photo is the size I want, I change the blend mode to pin light.

As I look at my photo, you can see that there are some areas that now look out of place…dark areas that I don’t want on my layout. So, all you need to do is choose your eraser tool, and select a soft, round brush. If you don’t want to erase too much at once, just reduce the opacity of the brush, and it will take only part of the photo away at a time.

Once I have erased anything that doesn’t belong, I would still like to have the photo pop and my for daughter’s skin stand out a little more — so, I duplicate the photo layer one more time and change the blend mode to overlay.

Let me just say here, that sometimes is as easy as changing the blending mode on something just once. Sometimes, like in this case, you will duplicate your photo (or paper or element) more than once and either keep the same blend mode, or change it to suit your needs…you just have to play with it. Experimentation is the key to learning this technique.

After this step, I add my elements, and complete my layout.

Here is the finished product:

Summer Delight:

And, if you look closely, you will see that I even changed the blend mode on the swirl to exclusion, to make it that great blue that goes with my daughter’s swimsuit.

And, for fun, here is another example from Kristie (kcherrie):

She used a dark brown paper on her first layer with a normal blend mode, then on top of that, a light green color paper with a soft light blend mode, and finally on the picture layer she used the linear light mode at 28% opacity.

I hope that helps get the wheels turning…and that you will think about how you can use blend modes to create something wonderful in your digital layouts.

Happy scrapping!